Working Remotely: Pros and Cons

If you work in an office, remote working probably sounds like heaven on earth! If you work at home, you may think being in the office again sounds like heaven on earth! It's the age-old problem, isn't it? The grass is always greener. As someone who has been both in the office and at home remotely, let me share my perspective in hopes it helps your mind. (Post #67)

Working in the office definitely has it's challenges. You have to commute! Big pain. And if weather is bad, double bad. Add to that you can't really leave early to pick your child up from school, or be home with them when they're sick unless you make other arrangements. And then you're using personal time for something that's not vacation! Having flexibility sounds like perfection. Work when you need to and make room for what's personally important. Sounds great, right?

That is definitely a perk of working remotely. You probably have more flexibility there than you do at the office but here's the rub....you have a mindset when you're at home. That mindset is finding relaxation, something to eat, putzing on projects, watching TV. Just because you relocate your office to home doesn't mean you change the way you see your home. Home is your sanctuary. And to bring work into it is a bit sacrilege to your soul.

One of two things often happens for people. Either they make work a 24/7 event and continually give a few minutes more or a few hours more to complete projects, or the opposite happens. Being home makes you relaxed. You wear sweatpants and fuzzy slippers instead of coordinates separates. The pull to leisure-living is too strong.

If you're thinking about working from home you have to do two things. Make a designate "work area". If it's the office or a table or a counter. Work happens there and no where else. Your work shouldn't spill over into every room in the house and all hours of the day. Likewise, you'll want to set a schedule to follow religiously. You get breaks at home just like at work. The only different is, your break start time is determined by you.

Give yourself time to get acclimated. You'll err on both sides. Flexibility doesn't mean you have no boundaries, it only means you have flexibility in how you allocate your working hours during the day.

My work day goes like this:

6:00: Wake up. Get dressed.

6:10: 16 oz glass of water, devotional time, Bible reading and journaling

7:00: In the studio to prep for the day's radio show and check email/Facebook.

9:00: Start recording the radio breaks for the day.

11:00: Breakfast (pesto egg toast), more email, facebook, prepping

11:30 More radio break planning and uploading

12:00 Free time because hardest part of my day is done. More checking on personal stuff.

1:00 PM: Upload commercials and promos for radio affiliates.